About Our Founder

Mark O. Thompson, Founder and CEO

Mark Thompson graduated from Cornell University's prestigious School of Hotel Administration. At the Hotel School (as it is known), he learned the qualitative fundamentals of hospitality and service combined with the quantitative rigors and precision of business. To bolster his understanding of business, customer service, and relationship management, Mr. Thompson began his career at the investment bank Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a salesperson. After a two-year stint at Goldman, he transitioned into financial services recruiting, and corporate consulting at the boutique search firm Bay Street Advisors. There, as a junior consultant and researcher, Mr. Thompson learned how to analyze the marketplace from a human resources perspective, anticipate trends, and optimize financial and non-financial resources.

In 2012, Mr. Thompson returned to investment banking at Credit Suisse as a Business Risk Manager and Trading Supervisor, a position he still holds. While in this role, he developed processes for establishing quantitative and qualitative business metrics and systems to monitor them. In addition, Mr. Thompson also learned the principles of employee supervision and regulatory enforcement.

Throughout his time in New York City, Mr. Thompson has enhanced his hospitality and service leadership acumen by voluntarily orchestrating and supervising dinners for families of cancer patients at the Ronald McDonald House. As a Team Leader, he was responsible for planning a healthy and cost-effective menu, sourcing all food items, devising a plan of execution, supervising food preparation, managing a team of up to 10 members, and helping to serve upwards of 100 guests. Since many of the guests were undergoing treatment, extreme care had to be given to food safety and quality control. These dinners were vital to defraying the cost of staying in New York City for many families already burdened by the expenses of cancer treatment and a struggling economy.

Mr. Thompson has also hosted various dinner parties at his own residence. As a member of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration Dean's Advisory Board, he held a fundraiser in January with Dr. Michael Johnson, current Dean and several other classmates. That dinner allowed Mr. Thompson to showcase many of the same skills he acquired while at the Hotel School under Dean Johnson's tutelage. Mr. Thompson has also conducted short-term externships at Eleven Madison Park (Three Michelin Stars) and Enduro (Rebranded).

In his spare time, Mr. Thompson mentors youth from various parts of New York City, enjoys weight training, and is on the Junior Board of C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program). Mr. Thompson also ran the NYC Marathon in November and raised over $4,000 for the East Harlem Tutorial Program. He currently resides in Harlem, a community whose rich history and culture continue to captivate him.